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A Grammar of Izat

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Izat language (the 1779th one produced by the Language Creator), outlining its sound system, word formation and syntactic structure, with the aim of presenting a coherent account of the language as an integrated whole. Attention has been paid to both regular patterns and minor irregularities, as these together define the internal balance of the language.

The grammar is accompanied by a bilingual dictionary and a collection of illustrative texts, offering material for further study and comparison. The examples have been selected to demonstrate typical constructions and to give a sense of the language in extended use. The description is intended as a reference work for linguists and language enthusiasts alike, and as a foundation for any future research, teaching or creative adaptation of Izat.

Typological Profile

It has a total lack of nasal consonants, four genders and a richly developed retroflex subsystem.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Izat has an extremely large consonant inventory, totalling 55 phonemes. Such a system is exceptional in scale.

It has a total lack of nasal consonants, an exceptionally dense sibilant inventory, a maximally contrastive voicing system, a complete absence of affricates and an extensively developed liquid system.

The table below presents the full inventory of consonant phonemes in Izat. The chart lists all places and manners of articulation attested in the language.

labialalveolarlab. alveolarphar. alveolarpostalveolarlateralretroflexvelarlab. velaruvularlab. uvularglottal
stopp b d t dʷ tʷ dˤ tˤ ɖ ʈ k ɡ kʷ ɡʷ q qʷ ʔ
ejective stopkʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ
trill/tap/flapɾ ɾʷ ɾˤ ɺ ɽ
fricativef β s z sʷ zʷ sˤ zˤ ʃ ʒ ɬ ɮ ʂ ʐ x ɣ xʷ ɣʷ ʁ ʁʷ h ɦ
approximantw l

Vowels

Izat has 7 vowel qualities, forming a relatively large inventory. The system distinguishes several vowel categories, as indicated in the chart, offering a wide range of vocalic contrasts.

It has has a completely boring and uninteresting vowel system.

The table below presents the full inventory of vowel phonemes in Izat. The system comprises the distinct vowel qualities listed in the chart.

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Izat has neither phonemic stress nor lexical tone. Prosodic prominence and pitch variation are determined by pragmatic and discourse factors rather than by lexical contrasts.

Phonological Processes

Vowel Harmony

The language employs vowel harmony. To be specific, the following vowels change to match the first vowel of the root: /i/ becomes /u/, /e/ becomes /o/.

Writing System

Introduction

Izat is an unwritten language. For that reason, all examples in this grammar are given exclusively in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which offers a precise and widely recognised means of recording its sounds.

Orthography

Izatis an unwritten language, so it does not make any sense to discuss its orthography.

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Izat does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Izat has the following genders:

Gender cl.1 – for instance: ahiɖarˤ ‘knee’, akʼʷiʔ ‘manner’, ar ‘back’, auzʷawiq ‘rope’, auɾʷ ‘wife’, aːf ‘meat’, aːβiʁʷep ‘box’, ekʼ ‘leg’, etˤazˤaɣ ‘feather’, eɾiʁiʒ ‘binoculars’, eːsekidʷ ‘school’, ilerʷeɾ ‘apple’, izʷ ‘woman’, iːzˤawib ‘breath’, iːʒirˤisʷ ‘cheese’, oraɬaʐ ‘worm’, oʔeɽ ‘egg’, oːʂikʼʷaqʼʷ ‘mammal’, uʐiʔif ‘net’, uːqʼʷ ‘fish’.

Gender cl.2 – for instance: aiʁeqʼʷisˤ ‘cloud’, arˤiβiɽ ‘liver’, at ‘sun’, auteɣʷitˤ ‘root’, aɡʷ ‘bed’, aːdʷ ‘son’, aːdˤ ‘husband’, aːɬ ‘father’, ebesʷeɽ ‘court’, eɡaβeʃ ‘religion’, eːkʷaqedʷ ‘belly’, eːw ‘man’, isʷasaɖ ‘wing’, izaʃar ‘bottle’, iʁʷaʂab ‘restaurant’, iːqizˤist ‘stick’, iːɣisaɬ ‘tail’, iːɦ ‘cat’, uʒ ‘sky’, uːsˤ ‘moon’.

Gender cl.3 – for instance: atʷ ‘bird’, auɦ ‘top’, et ‘language’, eːbik ‘book’, eːβ ‘hair’, if ‘night’, iqʼʷikʼetˤ ‘neighbour’, iɡ ‘surface’, iʒikʼʷikʼ ‘wild boar’, iːdʷ ‘city’, iːkʷ ‘tree’, iːɣʷisˤadʷ ‘lion’, iβahesʷ ‘salt’, oqʼ ‘chair’, oɬ ‘inside’, oːt ‘face’, oβiqezˤ ‘bank’, udʷ ‘friend’, uɬ ‘name’, uːrʷ ‘day’.

Gender cl.4 – for instance: afitev ‘vagina’, alidˤisʷ ‘smoke’, aukʼʷ ‘tooth’, auqʼaβib ‘fat’, auɾʷib ‘speech’, aʁebeɾʷ ‘dust’, aːtʷ ‘west’, aːʁ ‘blood’, aːʐ ‘bone’, erʷisid ‘jaguar’, eʃidʷ ‘knife’, eːkʷazexʷ ‘breast’, eːrʷeriʔ ‘money’, ir ‘sound’, iʁʷitiɖ ‘urine’, iːɣaɡax ‘neck’, oritʷeɡʷ ‘brick’, ub ‘south’, uɬadaʔ ‘ash’, uɬeβav ‘lamb’.

The Nominal Phrase

Nominal phrases in Izat can be exemplified by the following example:

[zˤaus tʷizʷir ɡʷaseːs tʷeʃidʷir ti ɖaudʷus kuf]

zˤau
blind -s
not.Q tʷ-
def izʷ
woman -ir
NOM ɡʷaseːs
COMIT tʷ-
def eʃidʷ
knife -ir
NOM ti
3.cl.1 ɖau
catch -dʷi
PAST -s
not.Q kuf
then

“The woman with the knife caught those three blind mice.”

 (1)

In the following, we shall look at the various components in more details.

There are no clitics in the nominal phrase.

The Noun

The noun in Izat consists of first, an obligatory prefix expressing def, comprising h- ‘not.def’ and tʷ- ‘def’; second, the root; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -ir ‘NOM’, -il ‘GEN’, -esʷ ‘DAT’, -if ‘INS’, -erˤ ‘VOC’, -isʷ ‘ALL’, -irʷ ‘LOC’, -ef ‘ABL’ and -as ‘PART’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: six suffixes, namely -eq ‘little’, -iɦ ‘big’, -eɖ ‘old’, -ak ‘new’, -ad ‘good’ and -arʷ ‘bad’, and five circumfixes, namely ʐ-a ‘have’, ʒ-i ‘use’, dʷ-i ‘see’, k-a ‘make’ and v-i ‘break’

The Adjective

The adjective in Izat stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

Numerals

The numeral in Izat stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

Determiners

In Izat, the determiner has the following structure: an obligatory prefix expressing gender, comprising ɣ- ‘cl.1’, dʷ- ‘cl.2’, h- ‘cl.3’ and xʷ- ‘cl.4’ followed by the root.

Pronouns

The pronoun in Izat stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

In Izat, subject pronouns (but not object pronouns ones) are dropped unless they are stressed. Here is an example where neither of the pronouns are stressed:

[ti ɡeres]

ti
3.cl.1 ɡe
love -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he (i.e., the subject) is stressed:

[qiː ti ɡeres]

qiː
3.cl.2 ti
3.cl.1 ɡe
love -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

[tʷaʃirʷiʔir tʷaːlisteʐir ɾˤodˤoːres]

tʷ-
def aʃirʷiʔ
Ashiri -ir
NOM tʷ-
def aːlisteʐ
Alistezh -ir
NOM ɾˤedˤoː
hate -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“Ashiri hates Alistezh.”

 (4)

Possession

[tʷoːqʷul tʷilerʷeɾir]

tʷ-
def oːqʷ
boy -il
GEN tʷ-
def ilerʷeɾ
apple -ir
NOM

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)

[qiː tʷilerʷeɾir]

qiː
3.cl.2 tʷ-
def ilerʷeɾ
apple -ir
NOM

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)

[zʷirʷ tʷilerʷeɾir]

zʷirʷ
1excl tʷ-
def ilerʷeɾ
apple -ir
NOM

“my apple”

 (7)

[tʷetˤaɬikʷil tʷauʈur ɾˤiːs tʷiqʼʷikʼetˤil tʷaːdʷir qʷotˤaudʷus]

tʷ-
def etˤaɬikʷ
hunter -il
GEN tʷ-
def auʈ
daughter -ir
NOM ɾˤiːs
2 tʷ-
def iqʼʷikʼetˤ
neighbour -il
GEN tʷ-
def aːdʷ
son -ir
NOM qʷetˤau
kiss -dʷi
PAST -s
not.Q

“The hunter’s daughter kissed your neighbour’s son.”

 (8)

Derivation

[huɬoβavur xʷuʂ]

h-
not.def uɬeβav
lamb -ir
NOM xʷ-
cl.4 uʂ
a

“a lamb”

 (9)

[huɬoβavoqir xʷuʂ]

h-
not.def uɬeβav
lamb -eq
little -ir
NOM xʷ-
cl.4 uʂ
a

“a little lamb”

 (10)

[huɬoβavoqir xʷuʂ xʷiːdʷis]

h-
not.def uɬeβav
lamb -eq
little -ir
NOM xʷ-
cl.4 uʂ
a xʷiː
have -dʷi
PAST -s
not.Q

“She had a little lamb.”

 (11)

This doesn’t affect all adjectives and verbs. Compare, for instance the previous example with this one, where black and love do not undergo affixation:

[ʒiːqʼas tʷaːsˤ ɣuʂ ɡedʷis kuf]

ʒiː
black -qʼa
3.cl.4.SUBJ -s
not.Q tʷaːsˤ
3.cl.4 ɣ-
cl.1 uʂ
a ɡe
love -dʷi
PAST -s
not.Q kuf
then

“She loved a black lamb.”

 (12)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Izat are enclitics (placed finally), and there are three types: first, a clitic expressing mode, comprising tif ‘imperative’, ʂiʐ ‘conditional’ and ʂesˤ ‘optative’; second, a clitic expressing voice, comprising qʼes ‘passive’; and finally, third, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ɮasʷ ‘NEG’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: first, the root; second, an optional suffix expressing ta, comprising -dʷi ‘PAST’; third, an optional suffix expressing subj, comprising -se ‘1incl’, -pe ‘1excl’, -ki ‘2’, -re ‘3.cl.2’, -ta ‘3.cl.3’ and -qʼa ‘3.cl.4’; and finally, fourth, an obligatory suffix expressing question, comprising -l ‘Q’ and -s ‘not.Q’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: five suffixes, namely -ɡʷe ‘begin’, -βe ‘stop’, -qʼa ‘continue’, -da ‘try’ and -kʼi ‘start’

[ɾˤiːs ɡepes]

ɾˤiːs
2 ɡe
love -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“I love you.”

 (13)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

There is one type of clitic in the adpositional phrase, namely an enclitic (placed finally), expressing root.

[ɣoʐ tʷorʷukʼur]

ɣoʐ
in_surface tʷ-
def orʷikʼ
table -ir
NOM

“on the table”

 (14)

[ɺis tʷaːβiʁʷepir]

ɺis
to_inside tʷ-
def aːβiʁʷep
box -ir
NOM

“into the box”

 (15)

[ɡʷaseːs zʷirʷ]

ɡʷaseːs
COMIT zʷirʷ
1excl

“with me”

 (16)

Syntax

Basic Clause Structure

Constituent Order

Constituent order describes the typical arrangement of the subject (S), verb (V) and object (O) in simple declarative clauses. It is a fundamental parameter in grammatical description and forms one of the clearest ways of characterising the overall structure of a language’s clause system.

Izat has basic Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) word order. The subject precedes the object, and the verb appears at the end of the clause. This is one of the most frequent patterns cross-linguistically.

The following examples illustrate the basic, unmarked, constituent order in Izat.

[tʷerʷisidir tʷetˤaɬikʷir sˤaudʷuqʼas]

tʷ-
def erʷisid
jaguar -ir
NOM tʷ-
def etˤaɬikʷ
hunter -ir
NOM sˤau
kill -dʷi
PAST -qʼa
3.cl.4.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (17)

[tʷiːɣʷisˤadʷir tʷetˤaɬikʷil tʷauʈul tʷaːɽir βedʷitas]

tʷ-
def iːɣʷisˤadʷ
lion -ir
NOM tʷ-
def etˤaɬikʷ
hunter -il
GEN tʷ-
def auʈ
daughter -il
GEN tʷ-
def aːɽ
dog -ir
NOM βe
eat -dʷi
PAST -ta
3.cl.3.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The lion ate the hunter’s daughter’s dog.”

 (18)

The language has a fixed constituent order, and major phrases normally appear in a predictable position in the clause. Movement for discourse reasons is highly restricted: topics and foci are expressed not by rearranging elements, but through dedicated constructions such as clefts, focus clauses or topic–comment frames. Constituents remain continuous, and both the relative order of phrases and the internal structure of each phrase are stable. As a result, significant deviations from the basic word order are ungrammatical, and discourse structure is managed through these specialised constructions rather than through word-order variation.

Noun Phrases

Structure and Order

The internal structure of noun phrases in Izat reveals typologically significant preferences in the ordering of nominal constituents. This includes the position of adjectives, numerals, and possessors relative to the noun, each of which can offer clues to the overall headedness of the language.

Possessive constructions are head-final: the possessor precedes the possessed noun. For example, Izat expresses “the child’s toy” with the equivalent of “child toy”. This ordering is found in many SOV and postpositional languages and aligns with a broader tendency towards modifier-first structures.

[ɾˤiːs tʷaːdʷil tʷudʷul tʷeːbikir]

ɾˤiːs
2 tʷ-
def aːdʷ
son -il
GEN tʷ-
def udʷ
friend -il
GEN tʷ-
def eːbik
book -ir
NOM

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (19)

Case Marking

Izat does not use case marking to distinguish the core participants of the clause. There is therefore no regular nominative, accusative, ergative, active or stative marking on subjects and objects. Instead, the roles of the participants are identified by other means, cf. the examples below.

[tʷiːɦir ʃeːres]

tʷ-
def iːɦ
cat -ir
NOM ʃeː
sleep -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (20)

[tʷiːɦir tores]

tʷ-
def iːɦ
cat -ir
NOM to
run -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The cat is running.”

 (21)

[tʷiːɦir tʷidʷixʷazˤir biʁires]

tʷ-
def iːɦ
cat -ir
NOM tʷ-
def idʷixʷazˤ
mouse -ir
NOM biʁi
chase -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (22)

[tʷiːɦir tʷidʷixʷazˤir ɖaudʷures]

tʷ-
def iːɦ
cat -ir
NOM tʷ-
def idʷixʷazˤ
mouse -ir
NOM ɖau
catch -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (23)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

[tʷetˤaɬikʷir tʷerʷisidir xil tʷozoɽaqʼur xil tʷiːɣʷisˤadʷir sˤaudʷures]

tʷ-
def etˤaɬikʷ
hunter -ir
NOM tʷ-
def erʷisid
jaguar -ir
NOM xil
and tʷ-
def ozeɽaqʼ
tiger -ir
NOM xil
and tʷ-
def iːɣʷisˤadʷ
lion -ir
NOM sˤau
kill -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The hunter killed the jaguars, the tigers and the lions.”

 (24)

Modifiers and Determiners

The ordering of demonstratives, articles (if present), and other modifiers in Izat provides further insight into the structure of the noun phrase. These elements frequently exhibit fixed positions and may reveal whether the language favours head-initial or head-final patterns.

Complex Sentences

Relative Clauses

Izat uses the correlative strategy to form relative clauses. The relative clause is introduced by a dedicated relativiser and appears as an independent clause. The main clause contains a demonstrative that corresponds to the relativiser and identifies the element being modified. The relative clause precedes the main clause when used on its own, and follows the head noun when it functions as a modifier. The internal structure of both clauses is fully finite.

To illustrate how relative clauses work, let us begin with a simple sentence:

[tʷiːɦir dˤalodʷupes]

tʷ-
def iːɦ
cat -ir
NOM dˤalo
pat -dʷi
PAST -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“I patted the cat.”

 (25)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

[tʷidʷixʷazˤir ɖaudʷures qiː dˤalodʷupes kuf]

tʷ-
def idʷixʷazˤ
mouse -ir
NOM ɖau
catch -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q qiː
3.cl.2 dˤalo
pat -dʷi
PAST -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q kuf
then

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (26)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

[tʷiːʒirˤisʷir βedʷis ti ɖaudʷures kuf qiː dˤalodʷupes kuf]

tʷ-
def iːʒirˤisʷ
cheese -ir
NOM βe
eat -dʷi
PAST -s
not.Q ti
3.cl.1 ɖau
catch -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q kuf
then qiː
3.cl.2 dˤalo
pat -dʷi
PAST -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q kuf
then

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese.”

 (27)

Finally, here is an example containing several layers of embedding:

[ti kʷidʷipes ti βedʷis kuf ti ɖaudʷures kuf qiː dˤalodʷupes kuf]

ti
3.cl.1 kʷi
buy -dʷi
PAST -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q ti
3.cl.1 βe
eat -dʷi
PAST -s
not.Q kuf
then ti
3.cl.1 ɖau
catch -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q kuf
then qiː
3.cl.2 dˤalo
pat -dʷi
PAST -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q kuf
then

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese that I bought.”

 (28)

Complementation Strategies

Izat introduces complement clauses with a dedicated complementiser, similar to English that. The complementiser appears at the beginning of the embedded clause and signals that the clause functions as a syntactic argument. The embedded clause is fully finite and displays the same tense, aspect and agreement patterns as independent clauses.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

[tʷoːqʷur tʷaidˤir hilerʷeɾir ɣuʂ dˤadʷires ʐisail tʷeːdʷiʂelir ʃakʼʷodʷutas]

tʷ-
def oːqʷ
boy -ir
NOM tʷ-
def aidˤ
girl -ir
NOM h-
not.def ilerʷeɾ
apple -ir
NOM ɣ-
cl.1 uʂ
a dˤa
give -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q ʐisail
COMP tʷ-
def eːdʷiʂel
teacher -ir
NOM ʃakʼʷo
surprise -dʷi
PAST -ta
3.cl.3.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“It surprised the teacher that the boy had given the girl an apple.”

 (29)

Quotes

Izat expresses quoted or reported speech without a dedicated quotative particle. Quotations appear as ordinary clauses, distinguished only by the surrounding syntactic context or by the use of verbs of speaking.

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

[tʷoːqʷur tʷaidˤir zʷirʷ ɾˤiːs ɡepes ʐisail xeːdʷires]

tʷ-
def oːqʷ
boy -ir
NOM tʷ-
def aidˤ
girl -ir
NOM zʷirʷ
1excl ɾˤiːs
2 ɡe
love -pe
1excl.SUBJ -s
not.Q ʐisail
COMP xeː
tell -dʷi
PAST -re
3.cl.2.SUBJ -s
not.Q

“The boy told the girl that he loved her.”

 (30)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Izat. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 29 September 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/5J25K

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-5J25K,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Izat}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/5J25K}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 29 September 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Izat / Izat–English) accompany this grammar. The complete work – comprising the grammar, dictionary and texts – may also be downloaded in ODT or DOCX format.

Readers are encouraged to share observations or corrections via the feedback form. The present page may be accessed directly at:

https://languagecreator.org/grammar/5J25K

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